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Topic: RELEASE 3 IS OUT!!! LINUX, PC, OSX! (Read 90052 times)

Sorry for the long absence however, Ive been busy with life as well as trying to get My first Indie games out the door. I still haven't forgotten about Annex, here is a little update what is going on.

Something thats been constantly asked of me is to remove the Population cap. While unrestricted military building sounds awesome, however the population cap serves very important functions in the game.

Of course one is reduce the hardware strain especially in 5+ Player maps, but also it limits the cpu quantity over quality tendencies, remove the limit and all you get are limitless waves of low tier units. Most importantly however, It adds more strategy it forces the player to think about what units they really need. Are you willing to sacrifice 5 population slots to get one more harvester? What would be better to get a tank or a base defense? Etc, etc So Don't expect Population Slots to go away anytime soon.

However that being said, there is a level of fun about using larger armies, overwhelming your enemy with numbers. So Really Since Beta 1 I've been constantly experimenting with the population caps, both amount and costs to bring the most engaging Annex battles.

So Lately my Annex work, Is focused on raising the Population Cap in a way that does not break the balance of game. And what I have currently seems to be yelding the bests results.

Currently these are the changes:

-Population Cap is now raised to 125 (raised by 35 since release 3)

-Ground/Air Vehicles no longer all cost 2 population slots, Instead that number can be more or less depending on that units abilities. This allows factions that focus on quantity over quality to actually be able to have more units than the brute strength factions. this coupled with better unit balancing is really making battles more engaging especially since lower tier vehicles are more useful compared to higher tiered units. For example: Shadow's Raider bikes are only 1 population slots while the Alliance' Battle Tank is 3, and the Republic's Sabre Tank is only 2. Likewise The Alliance Gunship is 2 and the Harrier is 3. That may sound low however keep in mind Anti Air units had a big boost in power in Release 4.

Is it an option for you to update just the old version of annex with a working engine ( 3.9.0 or in a week 3.9.1 )? I think this would be a really good idea to make more people play this game. (because it deserves it!)

Ill probably release what I have now with the 3.9.1 release. and Finish it at a later time. Basically whats its missing is an updated manual (which i seemed to have lost the files of) and the Renegade's scenarios. If that would be ok for everyone

Ishmaru we can help you put everything to git repo and at least also help you with testing, then will be easier, faster and without situations like this: "(which i seemed to have lost the files of) and the Renegade's scenarios".

Ishmaru we can help you put everything to git repo and at least also help you with testing, then will be easier, faster and without situations like this: "(which i seemed to have lost the files of) and the Renegade's scenarios".

MORE UPDATES!!!!

New Shadow Organization Hero: VIXEN

Shadow's top spy and a dangerous saboteur. While not as armed as other the heroes (only armed with a concealed sub-machine gun) her strengths are her ability to confuse and manipulate her enemies.

She has two abilities:

Charm

Cost 155 EP (Max 300)

An attack that does not deal damage, but instead charms that unit, and surrounding units with her charisma, bribery, whatever it takes. Thus reducing their will to fight. This lowers all nearby units armor by 100%, Attack by 50%, and speed by 50%.

Hack Production

Cost 155 EP (Max 300)Needed: Shadow Lab

Well trained in database hacking, this move can be used on a single structure, completely shutting down its systems, halting any unit production for a significant amount of time. In order for this move to work VIXEN must move close to the structure to work, so be careful of enemy turrets.

Rogue Kestrel

That's right shes a hero in the Alliance Renegades as well, sort of at least. In this alternative reality Kestrel defected from the alliance with the rest of the Renegades, However in doing so she loses her access to nuclear weapons, and powerful air support. Instead gaining these two abilities:

Retreat

2 Ep per step (300 max)

This move skill, increases her speed by 50% with a cost of 2 ep per step. Any surrounding ally unit will also have their move speed increased by 50%. Great for hit and run tactics, saving your attack forces from annihilation, or just getting forces where the need quickly.

Decoy Squad

155 EP (300 max)

This attack spawns a squad of 3 Decoy Tanks. They have similar armor stats as a Rogue Tank, however they do not do damage when they attack and they loose 15 hp a second. They still look like they are attacking though so it may be difficult for the enemy to tell the difference. This attack works at quite a long range, and it works best when performed outside the enemy's vision, as getting spotted might give the secret away. There may be other ways to tell as well.

Well trained in database hacking, this move can be used on a single structure, completely shutting down its systems, halting any unit production for a significant amount of time. In order for this move to work VIXEN must move close to the structure to work, so be careful of enemy turrets.

Nice way to use attack boost! But how do you place the unit on the structure? spawn-attack? or build? ^^Well... I will be away for some weeks now so i may miss the new release

Hopefully someone plays multiplayer with me if i get back (if its released )

Well trained in database hacking, this move can be used on a single structure, completely shutting down its systems, halting any unit production for a significant amount of time. In order for this move to work VIXEN must move close to the structure to work, so be careful of enemy turrets.

Nice way to use attack boost! But how do you place the unit on the structure? spawn-attack? or build? ^^Well... I will be away for some weeks now so i may miss the new release

Hopefully someone plays multiplayer with me if i get back (if its released )

Sorry Missed your comment. Its an attack spawn command.

More Updates!!

CPU players now properly use Mobile Refineries/Transports! (special thanks to filux for the fix)

This is a screen shot of a Cpu player, as you can see the mobile refinery moved nearby the crystal patch, but keeps some distance to not block harvesters. Once patch is cleared up the Cpu will move the refinery to the nearest patch of crystals. Before Mobile refineries will aimlessly wonder around the base causing congestion and other issues.

Particle Explosions on Vehicle+Structure destruction!

This has been a long time coming, finally most vehicles and structures have proper explosions when they destroyed. Expect alot more fireworks during your battles!

We're working on it and it's almost ready (for Linux, Windows, OS X), at least from a technical perspective. And it sure is an awesome game.

Yes! We are so close we can almost taste it.

In the mean time check out latest Gameplay footage:

Recording of Republic Mission 6 in upcoming Annex release 4.0.I admit I played this stage rather ineffectively taking way more casualties than I really should have, all for silly mistakes. For example: accidentally leaving snipers in front line, leaving my anti air far away from my main force, and forgetting to use Karina's (the hero unit) "Wrath of the Republic" super. You probably notice me play less and less aggressively as my army shrinks due to my incompetence .

Nice Every time a watch a annex video or a screenshot i think that the font just don't fit. I looked around a bit which fonts could fit and found two: imgur.com/a/KwBfAThe first one (which i prefer) is Licensed under SIL Open Font License and can be found here:https://github.com/theleagueof/league-gothic/If you take this one, you need to set the FONT_BASE_SIZE=7 (or maybe 6). I don't know if there is a separate file where you can set the font for all languages. There is no wikipage for that.The second one is called FreeMonoBold and is licensed under GPL (i think). It's a very common font so I think you could find it somewhere ( it was installed on my PC ).You do not need to take one of the suggested Fonts of course, but i think the original megaglest font does not fit to annex.

I never thought of replacing the font for annex, you are right the megaglest doesn't fix the futuristic theme. I'll look into the translation and how they would be effected. on a side note: I do like League Gothic better, honesty the freemono bold is just to difficult to read being that small of a size. thanks!

It may be to late to implement in 4.0 but I'll look in to for a future release.